Optical fiber processing devices can be used on level ground but also under difficult conditions, such as on ladders, on telegraph poles, on roofs.
When an optical fiber is processed, by for instance stripping, cleaning, cleaving, different devices appropriate for the chosen processing step have to be used. As a result when applying one of the mentioned processes, a stripping device, a cleaning device and a cleaving device must be stored separately and carried in often difficult surroundings. For example, when conducting work on a ladder, the worker conducts the desired processing using a related device and, thereafter, he/she must pull out another device after having placed the previous device in its initial position. Thus the worker must operate with the weight of several devices as a burden. Furthermore, for every processing operation, the worker must be skilled in the art in order to process the delicate optical fiber correctly.
Moreover, conventional optical fiber cutting devices have no specific integrated construction for collecting the debris which can arise as a result of processing an optical fiber, such as cut buffer material, coating, small and larger glass parts (depending on the glass break position). Therefore, optical fiber debris is directly discarded at a construction site, thus resulting in environmental pollution.
Patent application WO2006/112675 discloses a portable device for processing an optical fiber by means of several processing units, such as a stripping unit, an optical fiber cutting unit, a welding unit for welding junction portions of two optical fibers. Stripping, cutting, cleaning and welding can all be performed using a single apparatus.
A need still exists for a convenient and easy to use portable device for processing an optical fiber.